What is Israeli Cuisine?

In a new documentary a Jewish American Michael Solomonov, a James Beard Award winning chef and co-owner of acclaimed restaurant Zahav in Philadelphia
is the host who travels to Israel "In Search of Israeli Cuisine".  

I got a chance to see Canadian premiere of this documentary at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival (TJFF) and enjoyed every minute of this film.  It is kind of like a less edgy Anthony Bourdain style travel film where Michael Solomonov is the Anthony Bourdain who takes you through different places in Israel and discusses with Chefs at different restaurants and locals what the origins of their food is and what exactly is Israeli food or is there such a thing.  Some of the experts say of course there is and others say that there isn't an Israeli cuisine because what is eaten is Israel is influenced by Sephardic and Eshkanazi jews and other residents who bring food from their roots from Poland, Spain, Morocco, Iraq and all of the surrounding countries which are many.
The one thing that most of them all have in common seems to be Pita or some version of it and Hummus or some version of that.  They must have said hummus at least 20 times in the film and by the end of the movie I had a serious craving for hummus and pita.

I have never been to Israel even though my parents were married there.  I really enjoyed the films look at the different regions in Israel and the comparison of the modern Tel Aviv versus some of the smaller areas around Israel.
This film is a mix of travel, food porn and politics.  You wouldn't think food would be political but it is.  They say that some people stole their food.  Can you really call developing similar recipes stealing?  Either way it seems to me that the food eaten in Israel is a hodge podge of different european influences from eastern european to the more exotic and spicy foods.  I grew up similar to this with my mother having Polish heritage and my dad having Greek heritage and their influences of having lived in Israel, Belgium and their birth countries and the mix of influences from their friends all developed my own palate from the food that my mother prepared when I was young.

This film will make you hungry so find your local Israeli or Middle Eastern restaurant nearby where ever you see this film because  you are going to want to go out and eat some hummus and pita and eggplant by the end of the film.

I can only imagine how good the food at Solomonov's restaurant Zahav is after eating food all over Israel.  I hope to have the chance to go there one day.

Get you appetite and your passport ready for this film.

10 questions for the Director of Ants on a Shrimp

At Hot Docs I  had a quick one on one chat with Maurice Dekkers the Director of "Ants on a Shrimp", the documentary about famed Michelin Chef Rene Redzepi's restaurant Noma setting up a PopUp restaurant in Japan.

Maurice and his crew want to shoot like flies on a wall or ants on a shrimp and give the viewer a look from the inside of the inner workings of a high level restaurant in food development.

I asked him 10 questions about the film and food. 

1.  How did you become involved with this project?
"I was working with Rene on a a television series when the opportunity to document the Noma popup came up.

2.  How long did it take to film?
"A couple of months, about a month in the restaurant and the rest in Denmark and around Japan".

3.  What were some of the challenges?
It was self funded. Jumping on it quickly after discussing it with Rene.  It was his first long form documentary.

4.  What do you think about food bloggers?  We agreed that there are good ones and bad ones but he also said that food bloggers helped with his chocolate business, Tony's Chocolonely, in Amsterdam.  He also said that Rene likes storytelling and likes the way some bloggers tell a story about the food.

5.  How big was your crew?
It was a crew of 3 people.

6.  Did you and the crew get to eat any of the Noma food while filming?
"Yes of course, we were the Guinea Pigs".

7.  What was the weirdest thing you ate?
"Cod sperm" and foraged things you don't know you can eat.

8.   Do you have any other projects lined up?  "No, not now".  He will be busy doing the festival circuit for a while.

9.  Have you spent any time at any Toronto Restaurants?  He went to one restaurant for Tapas with the group from Eatable Films but he couldn't remember the name but he enjoyed it.

10.  Do you think Rene's approach in developing recipes using native local food could be a solution to issues like food insecurity, poverty and food waste?

He wasn't sure but thought maybe in some ways, although the food at Noma is very expensive because of the research and development and the man hours to produce the labour intensive food.

He also said that Rene's approach to the Japan Noma was to be uncomfortable and not do exactly what they did in Denmark but learn from their surroundings.

Read my post about the film "Ants on a Shrimp" here:

At the time of this post the film was just beginning the festival circuit so there isn't a theatrical release date yet.  

Taste Canada at the Bay with Basile, Smith and Damman

Taste Canada is bringing a series of 3 Chef demos to the Hudson's Bay this May.

I will be spending the 1st of this series of cooking demos on my Birthday on May 12th with Chef Owner of the Restaurant Lisa Marie and the Food Truck Fidel Gastros own Matt Basile.  Matt is a fun guy so I know it will be a fun way to spend my birthday.

On May 19th the 2nd in the series is with Home Economist and hilarious television personality Mairlyn Smith. She has a new cookbook out called Homegrown, that she put together with a group of other Home economists.  Mairlyn is a lot of fun and although I am not able to attend this session I know it will be great fun too.

On May 26th Chef Derek Dammann, and Chris Johns owners of Montreal's Maison Publique which is also partially owned by Jamie Oliver.  I have seen Chef Dammann once in Stratford and I am really looking forward to seeing what he has in store for his demo.  His restaurant is very highly regarded and he doesn't often come to Toronto so this will be a great opportunity since I haven't had a chance to go to Montreal yet. Their cookbook is "True North" and I am looking forward to checking it out.

You can register to attend these demos for free but SPACE IS LIMITED so you need to try and get in right away.   Here are the details.

RSVP here:  http://www.thebay.com/registry/events/tastecanada

Hashtag #HBxTasteCanada

Follow:
Matt Basile IG and T @fidelgastros
Mairlyn Smith T @MairlynSmith  IG @MairlynSmith
Derek Dammann T@MaisonPublique
Chris Johns @chrisandvinegar  IG @maisonpublique

Websites:
www.fidelgastros.com
www.mairlynsmith.com
www.maisonpublique.com

Thanks and follow:
@hudsonsbay
@TasteCanada
@AllCladCanada
@GODIVA
@HealthyCrunch
@CraftBeerGlass
@sawdustcitybeer
@jamieoliver